1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to an improved grip, in particular an improved grip for use with golf clubs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Applicant has previously developed resilient grips which successfully reduce impact shock to the muscle and arm joints of a user and also provide a feeling of tackiness between a user's hands and the grip, improving upon prior art rubber grips. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,813 granted to Applicant on Aug. 25, 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 6,843,732 granted to Applicant on Jan. 18, 2005, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,857,971 granted to Applicant on Feb. 22, 2005.
Some of these earlier grips utilize a polyurethane-felt strip which is spirally wrapped around an underlisting sleeve that is slipped onto and adhered to a golf club shaft. The sides of the strips are formed with overlapping heat depressed recessed reinforcement edges. While such grips have proven satisfactory in reducing impact shock, the fabrication is labor intensive, particularly since the strip must be wrapped manually about the underlisting sleeve within specific pressure parameters. Additionally, it is difficult to accurately align the adjoining side edges of the strip as such strip is being spiraling wrapped about the underlisting sleeve. Further, these wrapped grips can become twisted during the wrapping process.
Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 6,857,971 introduced a single panel to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages of existing spirally wrapped grips while providing the same resistance to shock afforded by such grips, as well as providing tackiness.
Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 6,843,732 incorporated multiple segments into a single panel, which is then applied to the underlisting sleeve. Such a design facilitated embodiments of grips made according to the teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 6,843,732 to accommodate multiple color combinations.
Applicant's U.S. Patent Publication No. 2007-0004529 incorporated multiple two layer sheet pieces onto a backing layer. Such a structure facilitated embodiments of grips made according to the teachings of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2007-0004529 A1 to accommodate additional multiple color combinations.
Despite these improvements, there remains the opportunity for additional grip advances.